


One Person in a Billion

by MegannRosemary



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 18:00:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6967480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegannRosemary/pseuds/MegannRosemary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel is in a coma when Regina meets Emma in a bar. They spend that first night together, desperately trying to feel something, anything. As the years go by their lust brings them together as friends and eventually once more as lovers. AU. SwanQueen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Person in a Billion

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Once Upon a Time

It was the first anniversary of his death.

At least that's what she liked to call it.

I was easier to say than 'The first anniversary of the accident that put my husband in a coma and that he had yet to wake up from'.

People didn't ask questions if she said her husband was dead.

She liked that too, it was easier that way.

Easier to accept the pity, the mumbled polite condolences, and to leave it at that.

For some reason tonight, on the first anniversary of his accident, she told the whole tragic story to the sexy, confident bartender.

Regina sat nursing a whisky in her left hand and took shots of tequila with her right as she told her story.

When it was done, once she'd seen the pity in the other woman's beautiful eyes, she turned her attention to examining the woman who she'd chosen to pour out her heart to.

Her smile was beautiful.

Her green eyes were enchanting.

Her blonde hair glowed under the bar lights, like it had a life of its own.

She wore a white tank top to show off muscled biceps that flexed with every drink she poured.

Regina watched her closely, feeling like she was looking at her first meal in years. It had been a long year since she'd been with Daniel and even longer since she'd been with a woman.

And still she felt like she wanted to know this woman, not just tear the clothes from her body.

Her name was Emma.

She was eighteen.

The guy who owned the bar had taken her in, let her work and live in a tiny apartment upstairs.

Taken her in from the streets.

He was an old foster brother.

There was deep pain in her eyes and Regina didn't delve any deeper.

The nodded in acknowledgement of their shared pain and that was the end of that.

One by one, men and women stumbled out into the night until only Regina remained sitting at the bar. She sat with perfect posture despite large quantity of alcohol she had consumed.

The bartender swaggered out from behind the bar, giving Regina a view of skin tight jeans that hugged her legs, her ass.

With a smirk, she poured two more shots of tequila.

They clinked the glasses together and tossed them back.

Then animal instinct won out.

They were stumbling together to the back of the bar.

Emma's mouth was on hers before they even reached the stairs that led up to her apartment.

The climb was staggered, the kisses deep.

Neither of them caring, both of them giving as much as they could and taking everything.

Emma had her up against the door the second it slammed shut, her fingers nimbly undoing the button on her slacks.

She nibbled on her lower lip then swiped at with her tongue, probing deeply.

Her fingers slid home, again and again.

Regina arched against the door and a strangled cry tore from her throat as she came. She clutched at Emma's shoulders as she sagged and rode her hand down the waves of pleasure.

The blonde pressed kiss after kiss to soft skin, trailing from just behind her ear to her collar bone.

“Emma?”

“Yeah babe.”

Another kiss, this one on the end of her nose. Its sweetness brought tears to her eyes. “That was…”

“Mmmmm…” She murmured into her hair.

“Emma,” She called again, a plaintiff cry of a child behind the growl filled lust that brought Emma to her knees.

“Not yet, not yet.”

“But I want to touch you now, I need to feel you.”

Their eyes met in torment and understanding and they stumbled to the mess of sheets on Emma’s bed.

The younger woman scrambled out of her jeans and tugged the white tank top over her head.

Regina left her slacks in a puddle on the floor.

Emma was on her forearms, hovering over her, and Regina was filling her hands with warm flesh.

They rolled, curves coming together with satisfying friction.

Their hands moved between them, finding a fiery rhythm that quickly took them tumbling over the edge together.

“Emma. Emma. Emma.” She chanted her name, the woman who was her saviour that night.

“Shhh Regina, I’m here. I’m here.”

“I feel…”

“I feel the same way.”

“Alive,” She murmured, hands roaming over pale skin.

“Alive,” The blonde repeated, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

That night they spent in lust, they spent in life.

When the sun came up the next morning Regina was kissed sweetly goodbye and she cried all the way to the hospital to visit the cold corpse like body of her husband.

* * *

 

The memory of the year before burned brightly in her mind.

It helped measurably that the memory was more pleasant than those she carried of two years prior.

On the second anniversary of his death, she returned to the bar.

It couldn’t hurt to get a second taste.

The first taste had carried her through the past year, had awoken something within her she wasn’t ready to let go.

Logically speaking, she likely wouldn’t even be here.

But the second she walked into the bar, she caught sight of the familiar glowing golden hair in a cascade down her back.

Regina had taken two step into the bar when the blonde turned around.

Emma.

Their eyes locked.

She stood up and walked towards her, “I wondered if you’d show up this year.”

“I didn’t mean to…It just happened...” She hadn’t really expected that she’d see her again, but given the chance she just knew that she needed to see her again, needed to feel her skin, her lips, against her own.

Here she was.

Vibrating with energy. Full of life.

“I didn't think...” But her strong arm came around her waist and she swayed into her, the heat radiating from her body in thrilling waves.

The blonde shrugged, “I’m glad you did though. Want to get out of here?”

“Yeah,” She started towards the back of the bar.

Emma shook her head, “Sorry, I don’t work or live here anymore.”

Regina briefly noticed the hurt that swam in her eyes following her statement but ignored it for her racing heart and the heat pooling in her belly from being mere centimetres from the younger woman. “My car is just outside.”

Emma nodded.

In the car silence overcame them.

Emma sat stiffly in the passenger seat.

Regina fumbled with the keys and they fell beneath her seat.

With a determined glance she climbed over the console, hiking her skirt to her waist as she straddled Emma’s hips.

She crashed their mouths together, and teeth clacked. She recovered quickly, sucking on Emma’s lower lip and releasing it with a pop. Her tongue slipped between parted lips and they moaned into the kiss.

Emma’s hands were cold as they slipped beneath her skirt to settle on her hips, but the steady grip anchored her to the sensations.

She shifted against the front of Emma’s jeans.

The blonde gasped, “Regina? Its Regina right?”

“Yes,” She replied breathlessly, dark eyes clouded with desire.

Her fingers danced at the waist of her pantyhose, a silent question.

“Please,” Regina pressed her hips forward by way of consent as her mouth attacked Emma's neck.

The other woman slipped her hand beneath the pantyhose and past the lace panties.

She was wet, so wet.

“Fuck, Regina.”

“Please,” She begged again, her voice raw and desperate.

Emma slipped a finger inside, then a second.

Regina moaned into Emma’s mouth and she drank it up.

With her palm riding her clit and her fingers moving at just the right angle she brought Regina to a writhing, arching, climax in minutes.

She tossed her dark hair back from her face and with her eyes locked on Emma’s own she began move again, this time bringing herself over the edge against the other woman’s hand.

She cried as she came and she buried her head in Emma’s neck. Her moans turning to sobs.

Emma wiped her hand on her jeans and tuned Regina in her arms to cradle her against her chest.

“Daniel, oh Daniel,” She cried.

“Is that your husband?” Emma asked, her soft words falling from lips swollen with kisses.

“He was…or still is. He doesn’t wake up though, he just doesn’t fucking wake up. He’s as good as gone, but he’s still here, I still have this stupid ring on my finger. And that means that this, us, it was wrong.”

“I'm sorry,” Emma murmured.

“I'm not.” Regina wailed, “I wanted this, I’ve wanted this all year. I wanted this. I didn’t care about him but I should, I should and I can’t.

“It’s ok.” Emma rubbed circles over her soft sweater. “We all need this once and a while, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, it just means that you’re human.” She supplied, wise beyond her years.

“Will you take me to him, I need to see him.”

Emma slid into the driver’s seat and started to drive though the empty streets, while Regina sniffled in the seat beside her, fixing her pantyhose, tugging her skirt into place and touching up her lipstick.

* * *

 

In the third year since Daniel's accident, Regina decided that she couldn't live alone in their large mansion anymore. There was no lumbering walk of her husband. There was no one to make her laugh. There was no promise of children running around their home filled with love.

As darkness descended on her house, she would become angry. She wanted to break the windows, punch the walls, set fire to the bed she once shared with Daniel.

She hadn't slept in it since the accident.

More often than not, she would sleep on the chair in her study.

Every evening in the darkness, anguish would crush her heart like an iron fist.

She couldn't move on, not when she was faced with memories every day.

She shouldn't want to move on, not when he was still alive.

But it hurt too much to stay.

She'd forgotten how to love.

Not Daniel, not herself, not anyone else.

She needed to escape, needed to leave her old life, in order to live again.

Daniel would want her to live again.

With guilt plaguing her, she sold most of their furniture and packed up what was left of her things.

It was the first and last time she would look at Daniels things since the accident. She put them in a storage locker.

How dare he leave her alone.

How dare he make her pack up what was their life.

How dare he leave her stuck loving him? She didn't have a choice.

Her new home was a sparsely decorated apartment in the series of new high rise buildings in downtown Boston. She liked that they were new, that they were empty, that the paint was fresh on the walls free of any imperfections left by past owners. There was no emotional attachment to the building, to her new home. It was stark, it didn't hold memories. Not hers, not anyone else’s.

On the third anniversary of his death she met her first neighbour in her new apartment building.

She walked out the door and came face to face with Emma Swan.

With the same golden hair, the same emerald yes that she got lost in, the same devastatingly attractive grin she always seemed to have. She worse her signature leather jacket and, tight jeans, really tight jeans.

She said 'hello'.

So did Emma.

Regina slipped past her quickly and ran into the elevator alone. It was all she could do to keep form throwing herself into those strong arms, even if for a night, to chase away the pain and keep her heart fire alight.

But she couldn’t betray Daniel even more, not when she'd just sold their home, not when she’d boxed up all the pictures, all the memories of times shared, and put them in storage.

She saw Emma several times after that, but they never spoke about their previous encounters.

Not for a long time.

She liked it that way.

* * *

 

On the fourth anniversary of his death, she was watching the clock click to eleven AM so that she could pour her first drink.

With thirty seconds to go, the doorbell rang.

She thought about ignoring it.

But with a final longing glance at the bottle of whisky on the end table, she opened the door.

A small boy with messy brown hair stood on the other side.

He had a familiar impish grin that immediately put her at ease with the tiny human.

“Hi, I'm Henry.” He spoke precisely, surprisingly for a child as young as he was, taking the time to form each word perfectly.

“Hello Henry, I'm Regina.”

“I know who you are,” He gave her a puzzled look. “I a'pposed to ask you if you wanted to come to the park with us.”

“Us?” _Us?_ She wondered.

“With my Ma and I.” He gave her another puzzled look, as if wondering she was so stupid for not knowing the obvious. “She said I had to ask you ‘cause you wouldn't say no to me “

He smiled up at her hopefully. If he had a tail, it would be wagging.

Whoever his _Ma_ was, she was right, she couldn’t say no to him. “When are we going?”

“Now,” He slipped his slightly sticky hand into her own and tugged her out the door.

“All right, but wait I...I need shoes.”

He looked at her feet and laughed and laughed, “You’re so silly Regina, you could have gone aaaall the way to the park and you'd be so muddy and Ma would never let you inside!”

After quickly grabbing her purse and slipping on her boots, she let Henry tug her out the door once more. Then pulled her into the apartment directly across from her.

“Kid is that you?”

No. It couldn’t be.

Her deep husky voice was unmistakable. Her heart leapt in her throat. Emma.

“Yeah.”

“Yes Henry, say yes,” She corrected. After a thump from within, she called, “Is Regina with you?”

“Yes Ma.”

“Ok, give me five minutes.”

“Is that long minutes?”

“No Kid, its short minutes.”

“She’s always late, it’s always long minutes.” Her looked over at the brunette and rolled his eyes. “Want some juice?”

“Alright.” She was stunned more than anything else. “How old are you Henry?”

“I'm four. It’s my birthday today.” He handed her a juice box and seriously reminded her not to squeeze it.   Then he showed her four fingers, “My ma says you're sad today so you have to come with us because you can’t be sad on my birthday.”

“Alright.” Daniels death, Henry's birth. Emma. Emma's child. Emma had a child born the same day Daniel died.

He climbed up on the counter to drink his juice, swinging his short little legs so that they banged against the cupboard.

She attempted to gauge her appearance in reflective glass stove top.

It was too late, there she was.

“Henry David Swan, what are you doing sitting on the counter?”

“It’s my birthday,” He held up four fingers, leaving the other hand with shaky grip on his juice.

Regina automatically reached for it, stopping it from spilling everywhere.

“It doesn’t matter kid, you know the rules.” She helped him down.

“Hey Regina, you ready? “She asked nonchalantly, like they did this every day, instead of barely stringing a few words together when they met on the stairs or in the mailroom.

“Yes, I...” Emma was already ushering her out the door, her hands on her waist.

When Henry raced ahead of them out on the sidewalk, Emma reached for her hand as they sped along trying to keep up.

“Hi I'm Henry, I'm four, it’s my birthday today.” He made sure to introduce himself to everyone at every opportunity.

Henry scampered off to play with the children in the park.

Regina asked, “You never told me about Henry before.”

“It never came up, he was with the neighbours when…when we were together that first time and then when I saw you here, I didn’t exactly get the feeling you wanted to talk to me. I couldn’t just go across the hall and knock on your door and be like yo I have a kid do you want to sleep together again or I don’t know, hang out.”

“You could have, you know.”

“Come over to fuck? Or hang out?”

“No, I mean told me about your son.”

“I didn't know.” She looked over at him in the sandbox, love brimming in her eyes as she spoke softly. “I got knocked up by some guy when I was seventeen. He was one of those bad boys, literally. He went to prison before I could tell him I was pregnant. When Henry was born he was so pink and innocent, I just couldn’t tell him. I wanted to keep him safe. So I’ve raised him alone, and we’re doing pretty alright by ourselves. That about covers it.”

“You’re so young.” Regina gasped, “You’re a baby yourself.”

“You knew that.”

“You don’t seem it, you certainly seemed experienced.” She coughed, cleared her throat as she remembered just how experienced she’d been.

The blonde shrugged, “Well, I’ve lived through a lot of shit.”

“I’m sorry.”

Emma shrugged, “Don’t worry about it. So uh…how old are you anyways?” She looked her up and down.

She felt naked beneath her gaze, but she embraced it, sharing with Emma only felt right.

“Thirty.”

“Pshh,” Emma waved her off, “Our age difference is tiny.”

“It’s not that bad,” She begrudgingly admitted with a small smile.

They went back to watching Henry.

“You love him a lot.” Regina stated, watching the way her green eyes followed her child as he ran about.

“Yes, I do.”

“Is that why you didn’t mention him?”

“I guess so, I just want to keep him safe.”

Henry came running up to them, tapping Regina's knee, “Tag-you’re-it.”

He raced off again.

Regina glanced at the blonde beside her.

She grinned, lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “You better go catch him. He won’t leave you alone.”

It was late afternoon when they returned home.

She and Henry were exhausted from their game of tag and they sat cuddled on the couch together. Emma let them watch Despicable Me while she fixed dinner.

She didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep. But it was after nine when she woke up with a blanket over her and a pillow under her head.

She folded the blanket and left it on the pillow before wandering through the silent apartment to peek in on Emma and Henry. Both were sleeping soundly when she kissed them each on the forehead.

Both smiled lopsidedly in their sleep.

* * *

 

Over the next year, they'd become almost friends. Things were still somewhat awkward between them, so they mostly did things with Henry. It wore her out, but she loved it and truth was she’d come to love him.

She felt guilty, betraying the children she and Daniel would have had.

But she was content, for the first time since his accident.

He would like that.

On the fifth anniversary she needed someone to remind her that it was ok to be content, because she was a life still living and breathing.

Clad in silk pajama shorts and camisole she tiptoed across the hall and into the apartment on the other side.

She climbed into bed with Emma, warming her cold toes on her almost friend. “Emma you should really lock your door.”

Emma yawned and stretched before pulling Regina into her arms, “Where’s the fun in that? I wouldn’t get a lovely visitor like you in the middle of the night.”

“Does this happen often?” Regina stiffened momentarily.

“Shhh silly it’s only been you.” She pressed a kiss to her hair, smoothing It back from her face, “What’s up anyway, not that I mind, I'm just wondering.”

“I needed someone to talk to.”

“Oh shit,” Emma tensed, “Today’s the day isn’t it.”

The brunette nodded. “But I don’t want to talk anymore.”

Emma cracked a grin, her teeth flashing white in the pale light. “So what do you want to do?”

Silently, she slipped off Emma’s pyjama pants and tossed them on the floor. There was nothing beneath them to keep her from her new goal. “Something better than talking.”

She moved to the end of the bed, brushing kisses along her thighs and gave Emma the sweetest of smiled before she bent her head again, her tongue sliding through wet folds.

* * *

 

Another year.

Another year of visiting Daniel once a week.

Of talking and getting no response.

Of holding his cold hand in her own, of applying chap stick to his dry lips.

She had come to dread the visits and she hated herself for it.

She spent most of her time with Emma and Henry. The three of them had become fast friends over the past year. On Wednesdays Regina found herself on babysitting duty while Emma was at work, then Friday nights were spent together watching movies, and Saturdays were spent together in the park.

The number of times Henry would ring her doorbell and promptly march into her apartments was countless. Emma was forever coming across the hall to drag him home, trying to explain to the young boy that Regina needed time to herself too.

He would shake his head and call her _My ‘Gina._

It gave her life.

On the sixth anniversary of his death Emma arrived on her doorstep with a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses clicking together in the other.

She cut right to the chase, “Want to talk or have sex this year?”

Regina blushed. They didn't talk about their history. Ever. “Could we talk this year?”

Emma kissed her cheek and smiled happily. She slipped past her, dropping a baby monitor on the counter and rummaging in a drawer for a bottle opener.

And so Emma let her rant about how terrible a wife she was, on and on, into the early hours of the morning.

* * *

 

This year the date fell on a Sunday.

She took Emma with her to visit him even when she told herself that it was a terrible thing to do.

Still, she didn’t listen to herself and dragged her friend and her sometimes lover with her.

Emma stood patiently while she talked, while she held his hand, while she kissed his cheek.

She'd never spoken about Emma before, but with a guilty look over at the blonde she told the sleeping form, “This is my friend Emma. This day is always hard, but for years now she’s been making it easier to get though.”

Everything came pouring out.

“I know you'd approve of her, she’s funny and she's kind.”

“Her son in adorable, yes she has a son, he was born the day of your accident. Isn’t that crazy?”

“He's my friend too. He calls me his 'Gina.”

“They live across the hall from me.”

“I’m so thankful for her. And for Henry.”

She leaned into Emma's side as they left. She was warm and she was alive.

“Thank you for coming with me Emma, I just couldn’t do it alone today.”

Emma stopped just outside the ward’s doors and turned to her then, nibbling on her lower lip nervously. “Regina, you know I would do anything for you, but please don’t ask me to do that again. It was too hard.”

Instead of feeling hurt, Regina looked up into the blonde's green eyes and saw exactly what she'd been so afraid of since the beginning of their rather unique relationship.

Affection.

One could almost call it love.

“I know,” She whispered and reached to take Emma's hand.

Emma shied away and shoved both hands in her pockets. “I don't think you do,” She mumbled.

But she did.

She stood on tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to Emma's lips.

The other woman was unresponsive as Regina looped her arms around her neck and pressed their bodies together.

“Emma, I know.”

Their eyes met one again, where the earth met the sea, and Emma knew.

This time their mouths crashed together.

Emma's arms came about her to settle at the small of her back, pulling her closer, and the hospital faded away. Regina sighed into the kiss, and Emma took her deeper.

She didn't know how long it was before they separated, their foreheads resting against each other, their breathing heavy, their smiles wide.

They were lost in each other’s eyes, shining with lust and glowing with affection.

“I'm hungry now,” Emma said with a smile.

“You and Henry, you're always hungry.”

The blonde only shrugged and offered her her arm, “Shall we make a date out of junk food at the hospital cafeteria.”

Regina took it, “I'd love to.”

* * *

It was the eighth anniversary of Daniels accident.

It was Regina and Emma’s official first anniversary.

It was a sticky situation, anyone could appreciate that.

Emma had been surprising her for eight years already and tonight was no different.

She'd cooked her an intimate candlelit dinner and kissed her goodbye early in the evening.

Regina had asked for some much needed time alone with her tumultuous thoughts.

Now as she tried to sleep, those unrelenting thoughts crashed through her mind.

She didn't think twice before padding across the hall.

“My 'Gina!” Henry exclaimed and ran into her arms, “Ma and I are eating popcorn and having a sleepover in her bed!”

“You're welcome to stay Regina.”

“Pleaseeee,” Henry begged, attaching himself to her leg.

“Just to sleep.” She whispered, turmoil choking her words.

“Just to sleep.” Emma nodded.

And so with Emma humming softly on one side and Henry’s tiny body glued to her other side, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 

It was the ninth year.

Regina had met the pinnacle of her double life.

She knocked at the door of Emma's apartments.

When it opened, she fell into her arms. She started crying and she couldn’t stop.

Regina let Emma scoop her into her arms and carry her to bed. She let her hold her as she sobbed, let her soak the front of her t-shirt.

“I took off my ring today. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Is this what this is all about?”

“Emma, I love you. I just needed to say that out loud,” She cried.

“Shhh shhh, I love you too.” Their kiss was salty with tears.

“You can’t.”

“But I do.”

“You can’t because I'm a terrible person. You can’t because Daniel loves me. You can’t, you can’t,” Her hands clenched into fists, pounding on her chest as she wept.

Emma just held her.

“I love you Emma, I love you so much. And I don’t love him, Emma I don’t love him anymore.” Her voice was hoarse, her body spent, her sobs silent now. “What if he wakes up, I don’t know if I can be with him. I love the memory of Daniel, but I don’t love Daniel. I’ve changed so much over the years. I’m not the same person I once was. But he hasn’t changed. If he wakes up he’ll still be the same person and I’ve changed. I can’t just go back and pretend that nothing has happened. I don’t want to be married to him anymore, I want to be married to you. But what kind of monster divorces her husband in a coma.”

“You’re not a monster, you’re just human. If you were a monster you wouldn’t be so torn up about this. When he wakes up-“

“If he wakes up.” She suppled, filled with dread that he might never wake up, and the guilt that she longed to be free of her double life.

“If he wakes up, we’ll figure this out together.”

“Together?”

Emma nodded, “I’ll be there for you no matter what. I’ll step aside if you want to be with him, I promise.”

“I took off my ring Emma, I want to be with you.”

“Ok. Ok, ok, ok.” She whispered into her hair.

* * *

 

It was the tenth anniversary of his death.

That's how she planned to start the day.

Truth was, it was the day he died.

Pneumonia was making its way around the hospital and had settled in Daniels lungs.

She sat by his side every day that week, she barely saw Emma and Henry.

In his last few minutes on earth he opened his eyes and their warmth pierced her soul as he whispered, “Love…again.”

It was all the more likely that she'd dreamed those two words, those three syllables. She hadn’t slept in thirty-six hours after all. But his gaze had been real, had been brimming with love and a final farewell.

He let her go.

“Emma,” She rasped into her phone, voice quivering with emotion.

“I'll be right there.”

Fifteen minutes later, Emma was pulling her into her arms, cradling her in her lap like a small child, holding her while she cried.

The orderlies came and wheeled Daniel away.

“Goodbye Daniel,” She called in one breath and in the next she was reaching up, cupping Emma’s beautiful face and kissing her sweet lips, “We can be together now, you and I.”

She stood, depositing Regina on shaky legs, and began to pace in front of the window that looked down at the grey barren parking lot.

“I killed him,” She gasped.

“Pardon?”

“I killed him,” She replied, more steady than the first time.

“No! Emma how could you say that?”

Tears ran down pale cheeks, “I feel like I killed him Regina. I’m so sorry: Every day I wished him dead. Everyday. I wanted him dead so that I could be with you. I don’t deserve you, I don’t deserve any of this.”

“Oh Emma no, no you have to understand, that it’s been ten years he's been gone. It was his family who rallied to keep his body alive this long. I knew Daniel never would have wished for that sort of life. So I said goodbye to him a long time ago. For ten years he’s been trapped, anchored to this world by a shell. Today was the day he moved on. He’s at peace now. I’m at peace now.”

“But our lives were built on the basis of another man’s life and his death.”

“No our lives built on our love. For ten years we’ve been in each other’s lives for better or for worse.” She reached for the other woman, brushing at the hot tears that flowed from sea green eyes. “And I love you. Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s all I need to know. I loved him years ago and I’m sad to see him go. But he’s been gone for ten years and you’ve been right here. From his passing comes new life. Our life. We’ve been destined for this life, since that first night.”

“You think so?”

Regina nodded, “Sometimes people are just meant to find one another. Out of the billions or people on this earth, out of all the connections we make each day. Somehow, though the path was long, we’re just two people who were lucky enough to come into each other’s lives. And in our life there is love.”

They fingers intertwined and they felt like they were coming home, hand and hand they continued down that same path.

It didn’t’ take long to make the necessary arrangements, they’d been prepared for years after all.

The next day was Henry's birthday party with all his friends, the first one that they’d planned together. Life carried on like nothing had changed, when in fact everything had changed. The funeral would be held Monday and Tuesday Regina would meet with the lawyers.

On Wednesday, it was all over. Henry went to sleep over at a friends and they were alone for the first time in nearly a week.

Emma stood by the window looking out at the city sparkling below her. Regina crossed the room, leaning into the heat of her body and resting her chin on her shoulder.

“Hey Regina?”

“Yes dear?”

“I’ve been thinking…”

“That could be dangerous.”

Her body vibrated with soft laughter. “It’s just that I’ve come to realise how fleeting our lives are, they can disappear in the blink of an eye ... And I don’t want to spend another day of my life without you.”

“You won’t, I’m right here.”

“No Regina, I don’t want to be without you another second.” She turned in her arms, and got on bended knee before her. She opened her palm, and there sat a thin silver band glittering with a single diamond. “Regina will you marry me?”

“Yes. Emma, yes. I love you, I love you,” She gasped, raining kisses over Emma’s cheeks, stained with happy tears.

“Come with me.”

With the ring snug on her finger, she pulled Emma across the hall.

The blonde stood by as she rummaged through her bedside tables, her dresser drawer and eventually found the small brown kraft paper box in the kitten drawer beneath the microwave. Regina’s shaky hands fumbled with the lid and it fell to the floor.

Emma stooped to pick it up, and came face to face with a similar silver band with three small diamonds set in within it.

“I bought this years ago. It was the night after you came to my door, and we all we did was talk and drink wine. You listened to every drunken ramble and I knew that night that I could never lose you. I knew that night I was head over heels in love with you, you were my lover, my friend for years. I ordered the ring that night and I’ve been waiting to finally be with you. Forever.”

“This is happening, this is right.” It wasn’t a question.

Regina looked at their hands clasped between them, rings sparking, and her heart soared. “Yes, it is.”

“Since you walked into my bar that night I’ve been yours.”

“And I’ve been yours.”

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I wrote this way back in 2014 and I’ve been too lazy to edit and post this until now. I hope you enjoy this story! It’s very precious to me :)


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